Breathe new life in your older Subaru with a turbo motor swap from ECS!

Because they are a smaller car company, without the resources to develop a wide range of chassis’, subarus are built off unusually similar platforms. The interchangeability of Subarus has been compared to Legos. Nearly any modern Subaru (1990+) motor can be transplanted into another modern Subaru. Transmissions, brakes and interiors are also equally swappable. This means it’s possible to drive a 2.5 RS with an STi motor, or a Legacy GT with a WRX dashboard.

The various configurations of factory Subaru shells and drivetrain components are virtually limitless.

At ECS, we believe that swapping an older
car is a better alternative than buying
a newer Subaru, or an aftermarket turbo
setup.

Our swaps offer factory reliability, upgradeability
as well as performance superior to factory
turbo Subarus at a fraction of the cost.
Why buy a factory STi for over $30,000 –
when you could have an STi driveline for
a third of the price? A brand new 2.5L WRX
lists around $22,000 - while the motor and
transmission can be had for around $10,000.
A swapped car is quicker than its factory
counterpart because older chassis’ weigh
less and typically feature sharper gearing.
In addition, swapped cars are cheaper to
insure, less likely to be theft targets,
and truly each one of a kind. How many people
can say they drive a hand-built performance
car?

As opposed to aftermarket turbo setups,
swapped cars are just as reliable as a factory
Subaru. You can bring your swap through
emissions testing, or to a dealer for service.
Replacement and upgrade parts are readily
available, while many aftermarket turbo
kits run dangerous, maxed-out tunes.

While high-output
Subaru engines can be found in many model
year ’02 and up US vehicles and a wide variety
of older, oversea-market cars the performance
mainstay of the Subaru lineup has always
been the Impreza WRX, and its tuner cousin,
the Impreza WRX STi. Nearly all our motor
swaps come from donor WRXs and STis. The
WRX first hit US soil in 2002, with a 227hp,
turbocharged 2.0L model. For 2006, the WRX
received a bump in displacement to 2.5L,
and in power to 235. The 300hp, 2.5L WRX
STi was introduced as a 2004 year model
and is further distinguished from the standard
WRX by a beefy, 6spd gearbox, massive Brembo
brakes on all four corners and a unique
interior treatment. All the turbo Impreza
models respond well to mild aftermarket
bolt-ons – gains of 70hp or so from an exhaust
and ECU reflash are typical.

Of course, the WRX and STi
were in production long before they were
legal imported to the states. The motors
from these original WRXs, often referred
to as JDM (for Japanese domestic market)
Imprezas, are also popular for swaps. The
original WRX debuted with 240 crank horsepower,
bumped up to 260 in the handbuilt STi cars.
These original turbo Imprezas are often
referred to as versions (ie, version 1/2,
or v1/2 rather than their model years, MY94-MY96).
Subsequent turbo Imprezas saw power increases
to 260/280 (WRX/STi) crank horsepower before
the WRX was introduced in the United States.
In addition, an even earlier turbo’d EJ20
made its way into the Japanese-Market Legacy,
and these 220 horsepower motors still surface
occasionally for stateside swaps.

While these early motors are often cheaper
and more powerful than their US equivalents,
they are not without pitfalls. Most JDM
motors are difficult to tune with US parts
– you can’t for example, put a USDM WRX
top mount intercooler or turbo on your
JDM v2 WRX. Finding replacement parts
like coil packs or igniters can be a challenge
too, although for most parts Subaru interchangeability
means there is a US equivalent part available.
The biggest handicap of the early JDM
motors is that there are no good US-market
engine management options compatible with
older JDM ECUs – so it’s difficult to
get maximum power and reliability from
bolt-on modifications. Newer JDM motors
(v7, or MY01 and newer) don’t face these
same issues – they are very similar to
the US market WRX 2.0 motor, so there
are plenty of tuning and maintenance options.